Make roadmap trade-offs explicit without inventing scores
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Make roadmap trade-offs explicit without inventing scores

List the possible work, goal, limits and evidence behind each estimate. Mark unagreed effort or impact as assumptions. AI can explain tradeoffs; the people responsible for delivery decide the order.

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1

Choose the next investigation, not an invented delivery date

Use this fictional backlog to practise explaining one trade-off within a stated limit. You can work in this worksheet or use one approved assistant; an assistant is optional. Remove private planning, personal details and other sensitive data before pasting anything.

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  1. Choose the next investigation, not an invented delivery date

    Use this fictional backlog to practise explaining one trade-off within a stated limit. You can work in this worksheet or use one approved assistant; an assistant is optional. Remove private planning, personal details and other sensitive data before pasting anything.

  2. Keep the objective, all candidates and capacity visible

    Fictional planning brief. [O] Objective: reliable exports this quarter. No outcome metric or threshold is supplied. [A] Investigate a select-all export failure described in this brief as reproducible. Effort is unknown. No reproduction steps, root cause or fix estimate is supplied. [B] Choose export columns. Design is described as ready; engineering estimate and reliability rationale are missing. No approved delivery commitment is supplied. [C] Add a new dashboard colour theme. The request has no stated link to export reliability. [K] Capacity: one investigation this week. This is not capacity to implement three features. No impact scores, confidence scores or delivery dates exist. Keep O, A, B, C and K. Do not replace missing estimates with an assistant’s guess. The statements about reproducibility and design readiness belong to this fictional brief, not a real test or design review performed here.

  3. Ask for a complete decision brief without scores

    Use only the supplied objective, candidates, evidence and capacity constraints; preserve their labels. If the objective or capacity is missing, identify what must be clarified before making a firm recommendation. Account for every supplied candidate exactly once under consider now, needs evidence, or outside this objective, explaining fit, evidence limits, trade-off and next question. Preserve estimates only where the source supplies them; otherwise write unknown. For the fictional O/A/B/C/K brief, propose at most one investigation because K permits one investigation, not implementation. For other briefs, respect their actual capacity and decision scope; do not invent an investigation slot or a delivery commitment. State a reviewable next output, decisions still needed and a condition that could change the proposal. Do not invent scores, permanently delete candidates or imply approval. End with a short unsent proposed team message. Brief:

  4. Compare with a complete planning brief

    Proposed brief — team review needed Consider now: A A concerns the export-reliability objective [O, A]. Propose using this week's one investigation slot to understand the failure [K]. Effort and root cause are unknown; no fix or delivery date is promised. Ask for the missing reproduction steps, expected/actual output and affected version. The source calls the issue reproducible but supplies no steps; we have not reproduced it here. Needs evidence: B A ready design does not tell us the engineering effort or how column selection would improve reliability [B, O]. Ask for the estimate, affected workflow and reliability rationale. Spending the only investigation slot on B would delay learning about A. Keep B visible while that evidence is gathered. Outside this objective: C No link between the colour theme and reliable exports is supplied [C, O]. Keep it for a different objective unless new evidence changes that assessment. “Not now” is not the delete button. What the investigation should produce Obtain the missing steps and permission to use a suitable test environment with non-sensitive data. Record the version/environment, steps, expected result and actual result. Say whether this attempt reproduced the failure, did not reproduce it, or could not test it. Include the limits and next question. An export symptom does not establish a database cause; finishing the investigation does not mean the defect is fixed. Before treating this as agreed The team still needs to confirm the investigator, allowed environment/data, time limit, reviewer and what decision follows the findings. K supplies one investigation slot, not implementation capacity or those assignments. Add an engineering estimate only if someone supplies one. The brief provides no impact metric, target or confidence score. What could change the proposal? If checked evidence shows A is resolved and no longer blocks the objective, reconsider the slot. B still needs its rationale and estimate. If the objective changes, review A, B and C again. Draft team message — not sent “I propose investigating A this week because it concerns export reliability. B needs an estimate and reliability rationale; C sits outside this objective. Who can investigate and review the findings? Please confirm the scope and time limit. This is a proposal, not a delivery commitment.” Repair before sharing Replace “A scores 92 and ships in two days; drop B” with “Propose investigating A; effort and delivery remain unknown. Keep B pending evidence.” Check that A, B and C each appear once in the grouping.

  5. Check that nothing disappeared or became a promise

    Reconcile A/B/C with the source: every candidate must appear once in the grouping. Check the proposal spends at most one investigation slot and adds no implementation promise. Are reproducibility and design readiness attributed to the supplied brief, rather than presented as your own verified results? Are unknown effort, impact and delivery still unknown? Write your own recommendation and its trade-off in the draft. Replace unsupported scores and dates. Check the stopping point produces evidence a team can review; it must not pretend that a closed investigation means a fixed defect. Keep alternative conditions explicit. Review ticks do not allocate capacity or approve the roadmap.

  6. Carry the proposal into a team decision

    Copy the reviewed brief and open decisions before leaving; worksheet edits are not saved here. If authorised, share the proposal through an approved channel and record the team’s decision separately. Use the links below to explain the proposal to stakeholders or draft requirements for an approved item. Keep the original candidates until the team confirms the scope, available time and priority order.

Sort a backlog into priority order with AI Explain the proposed order and unresolved trade-offs Define acceptance conditions for a selected item

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